


Home

by EradiKate



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 10:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12230955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EradiKate/pseuds/EradiKate
Summary: Three times Tali didn't cry, and one time she did.  Written for the Mass Effect Writer Circle.





	Home

“Your boyfriend has an order for you.  Come back alive.”

 

Tali froze.  This wasn’t the sort of scene one should interrupt, but it was time for the final push.  She watched as Garrus and Shepard embraced, a quiet desperation in the gesture.  She felt like she had while standing on Rannoch, watching the sun set, finally free from her environment suit.  It had been a wrench in her heart to realize that home wasn’t a planet, neither Rannoch nor any other.

 

Home was a scarred-up turian with a dry sense of humor and a dedication to doing the right thing, whether that was calibrating weapons or protecting the people of Omega.  Home was late-night chats in the engineering bay, do-you-remembers and shared dextro brandy.  Home was Garrus.

 

And here she was, struck dumb while Garrus and Jane professed their love for each other on a war-torn planet.  Tali blinked fiercely, forcibly reminding herself that while her home wasn’t meant to be, there were billions out there who were depending on her to help save theirs.

 

* * *

 

Jane was limping, and even through her helmet’s visor Tali could tell her face was gray with strain.  But she was supporting a scorched and bloodied Garrus, and Tali could only look on in horror as his eyes dimmed.

 

“Here.  Take him,” Shepard snapped.  Garrus started to protest, but was cut off.  “You’ve got to get out of here.”

 

“And you’ve got to be kidding me.”

 

“Don’t argue, Garrus.”

 

It was clear that Shepard expected to be obeyed, and Tali hurried to Garrus’ side.  As Joker shouted over the comm, Shepard and Garrus reached for each other.  

 

“You know I love you,” Shepard said, her voice softer than Tali had ever heard it.  “I always will.”

 

Garrus leaned on Tali.  “Shepard...I love you, too.”

 

Vega was there, taking Garrus’ weight.  She turned and fled to engineering as Shepard shouted her last command to the Normandy.  There would be time to cry later, Tali thought.  Now the only thing to do hold off the Reapers long enough to let Shepard fight.

 

* * *

 

Months had passed.  The Normandy crew was finally coming together again, subdued and still battered from the fight for the Citadel.  Liara had insisted on it, saying the eyes of the galaxy would be looking to them at the memorial service.

 

Tali stood behind Garrus as he stepped forward, his hands steady as he held the plaque bearing their commander’s name.  His back was as straight as ever, head held high.  Only the clench of his jaw betrayed the depth of emotion he was feeling.

 

Ashley squeezed her hand when Garrus returned to his place.  “Don’t,” she murmured so quietly that Tali knew she was the only one to hear, and wondered how Ashley had known that she wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort Garrus.  Her pride stung.  She had kept her feelings hidden away so carefully, but then Ashley had always been more perceptive than anyone realized.

 

The crowds dispersed, and the lump in Tali’s throat only grew as she struggled to keep down the misery choking her.  Her grief at Shepard’s passing was sharp and real, but at the same time she hated herself for the small glimmer of hope that bubbled up in her.  When Garrus’ head finally bowed, she retreated to engineering to fume at herself.

 

* * *

 

“To the cost of victory,” Garrus said bitterly, raising the bottle.  Joker had somehow procured enough booze to set a dozen krogan drunk, saying it was an old Earth tradition to drink to the departed.

 

Tali stayed silent, but tilted her own glass toward him.  

 

“I used to think we’d be with Shepard forever,” Liara mused, her fingers wrapped loosely around a coffee cup.

 

“Shepard used to threaten me with that,” rumbled Wrex.  “Seems like that wouldn’t be so bad, now.”

 

“Everything ends,” Tali said.  “Everyone will move on, someday.”

 

Garrus’ eyes blazed at her over the rim of his glass.  “You can’t possibly believe that.”

 

“I’m sorry, Garrus,” she muttered.

 

“So am I, Tali.  I forgot how much she meant to you, too.”  He reached across the table and took her hand, and Tali let the tears go.


End file.
